Getting Advice for Sewing Snags Rogers AR

Preserve favorite patterns by pressing them onto fusible pellon interfacing or waxed paper. Prevent popped stitches in pull-on pants and skirts with the following method. Pattern storage has been made easier with the availability of two-gallon plastic zip-top bags. Please feel free to read the following article to find more information on sewing tips.

Getting Advice for Sewing Snags

How ToSewing Solutions

TOP SEWING Tips from Sandra Betzina

Pattern PreservationPreserve favorite patterns by pressing them onto fusible pellon interfacing or waxed paper. Place interfacing sticky side up or waxed paper shiny side up on a pressing surface. Place the pattern wrong side down over the interfacing or waxed paper. Using a dry iron on a medium setting, press the pattern to the interfacing or waxed paper, working from the middle out. Don't press too close to the pattern outer edges. Trim away the excess interfacing or waxed paper along the pattern cutting line. Secure the pattern edges by pressing around the perimeter of the pattern.

Pop, Go the Stitches Prevent popped stitches in pull-on pants and skirts with the following method. When sewing down elasticized casings on knits, use hand-wrapped woolly nylon thread in the bobbin and all-purpose thread on the top. Set the machine for a narrow zigzag stitch (1.0 mm wide, 2.5 mm long). Stretch the casing slightly from front and back as you stitch.

Storage Solution Pattern storage has been made easier with the availability of two-gallon plastic zip-top bags. Tape the front and back of the pattern envelope to the inside of the bag. Because the bags are so large, minimum pattern folding is necessary.

Read the Label Difficulty locating the pattern you want among your stash?After storing patterns in two-gallon plastic bags, label legal folders with the pattern number. Locate the pattern you want quickly by referring to a master sheet, which you create with the pattern number, brief description and a quick sketch. You can even add a fabric swatch to make identification even faster.

Watch & SewGet a 9" portable DVD player for your sewing room. Not only can you take advantage of instructional DVDs, but you can also watch movies as you sew for long periods of time.

Bag Lady Want to use up some of the fabric in your stash? Cut a 2" square from each piece in your stash. On the fabric wrong side, write the fabric width and amount on blue painter's tape. Throw the scraps in a zip-top bag. Reorganize the fabric on shelves by color or by type, such as knit, pant or skirt woolen, cotton, rayon, stretch woven, silk, coating, sheer, etc. Take the bag of swatches with you when shopping for fabric, patterns and accessories.

Size Matters Working with multisize patterns can be confusing unless you're careful because dots are labeled with a size that's on a different cutting line than your pattern size. Dot markings are L" in from the cutting line. Once you've identified the cutting line for your size, count out the number of lines away from the center to make sure you're using the same size throughout. Use a highlighter to trace over your size cutting line. Draw on your pattern alterations in a different color. Mark the dot markings for your size and with the second color pen.